I wholeheartedly applaud the brave college presidents who are calling for a reasoned, non-hysterical, non-political, national debate on giving adult citizens age 18 to 20 years old the same legal right as older adults, to purchase and consume alcoholic beverages responsibly.

The knee-jerk fanaticism of groups like MADD has for too long made this debate politically taboo.

Politicians are too timid to alienate a powerful group like MADD by considering the issue solely in terms of sound public policy and its equal rights implications. Re-imposing prohibition on select categories of adult citizens is just wrong.

The presidents are correct. If 20-year-old adults can be soldiers, vote, buy property and live independently, we shouldn’t stop them from having a drink if they want to.

Criminalizing them only leads to more dangerous and more clandestine behavior.

Three women have told the New York Times that music mogul Russell Simmons raped them, the latest in a cascade of serious allegations of sexual misconduct against powerful men in entertainment, media, politics and elsewhere.